Midweek links
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014- Dog just hanging out in its own backyard. Cops canvassing neighborhood for a lost toddler (who turns out to be snoozing in his own family basement). Guess what cop does? Yeah. Again. But once again, the dog’s dad is on a take-no-prisoners quest for justice. (H/T furrydoc)
- Okay, let’s have some better dog stories. Including this happy cop and “vicious” pit bull story via naturegirl.
- And how about … dog returns wedding ring missing for five years.
- New study warns against trying to cheer some folks up. Yeah, I can see that, for sure. Sometimes you just need validation and sometimes those cheery platitudes are just plain grating. Still … where comes the point where you just tell Debbie Downer to quit whining and fix her own life?
- So former shooting hotshot and alleged historian Dick Metcalf. still hasn’t bothered to learn the meaning of the term “well-regulated.” And now the left is loving on him. (H/T RC) Bob Owens gives the useful idiot a touch of what he deserves.
Forget that. Cartoon time. Here’s one for Joel (via Never Yet Melted):
And one for all us makin’-a-livin’ arty types lost out here in Cyberland:
(H/T Jim Bovard)
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July 1st, 2014
I’m sure there’s some truth in the Doonesbury strip, but really, before direct digital distribution, a whole lot of musicians weren’t reaching anyone outside of their hometown, and living poor. But at least now they’re getting their music out there. And if any former “monster” rock musicians are now living in their cars, it isn’t likely that digital distribution is to blame. (And how’s Trent Reznor doing these days?) Not sure how financially viable things are, but my further observation is that I sure hear a lot more variety on the radio than I used to. I suppose part of that is that I channel-hop a lot, but then, 30-ish years ago, the variety of stations wasn’t what it is now either.
JMHO, but I think it’s actually easier now to get noticed. I don’t claim that it results in a financial bonanza, but the potential is there, I think, to do better than the starving musician of the past, unable to reach any market at all.
See also Pomplamoose (H/T Roberta X)
July 1st, 2014
The Stop Cheering article crept right up to, danced all around, until the very end and then almost said what is really annoying: people who think everything is always suppose to be ok and people are suppose to be happy ALL the time. Not only is it annoying it’s totally unrealistic. I would rather hear the negative truths than have any more forced positivity thrown in my face. I also don’t believe that should be pinned to low self esteem, either. Some people are realists with realistic esteem outlooks.
As for Doonesbury and some of what Jed said – I spent a decade working with an Indie band and we launched mostly by the internet. It was great numbers: of fans gathered, and countries reached, influential articles and DJs accumulated, and even opened a few doors touring wise. Financially, not so much. Especially if the musicians are paying for everything themselves. Not to mention the whole fairytale of what signed, old school way of doing music business stories do to skew comparisons. And actually (it’s been a few years since then) I think trying to do it now a days makes it harder because there’s millions more online doing the same thing. The internet is also directly responsible for 15 mins of fame being reduced to 5 mins, attention-wise. TV shows like American Idol and The Voice aren’t helping to change short attention spans, either.
One thing hasn’t changed over the decades, is how important it is to get out and tour and do shows. Get live, show up in person! still wins people and exposure.
July 2nd, 2014
Lots of interesting music out there. More musicians and less bucks for the big acts, but hey, it’s working for me. The days when I’d go see a big act and they’d totally suck don’t seem to happen much any longer. I’m also seeing a lot of authors doing self pub and dumping their large publishing houses for small outfits. I’ve never been so able to focus on the subjects I love. It’s changing and that’s that.
July 2nd, 2014
OTOH, many people have downsized their value systems. They don’t want quality anymore (if they ever did), they just accept what they’re given and react to it. If it entertains them at the moment, that’s all they care about. Like many products, obsolescence is built into art as well.
And a lot of writing is simply no damn good, but it may give information the reader needs, so the technique of writing ― or lack of it ― is overlooked.
July 2nd, 2014
A lot of this is sour grapes, or complaints of buggy whip manufacturers put out of work by the automobile. If you can’t make it now, you sure weren’t going to make it in the old days (with some exceptions like the Monkees, but who wants to be in their position?)
July 2nd, 2014
Off topic:
Claire, have you picked up on this ProtonMail stuff yet? I just contributed on their indiegogo campaign; there are just 16 days left in their campaign. Another way to poke the snoops in the eye…
https://protonmail.ch/
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protonmail/
July 2nd, 2014
Saw yesterday the Owens article on keeping the “Dick” in Metcalf.
I guess some folks are really angry and betrayed about all this. Myself, I just don’t think I’m all that surprised. Metcalf was one of the very first “gunriters” I ran across when I started reading the rags at age thirteen or so, and over the subsequent years of the most ravenous reading (about twenty, before I gave up for no longer learning anything new), the impression I got from him was that he was a hobbyist more than anything else–just one who got to make a living out of it.
He seemed to switch opinions and recommendations frequently, over time, without any explanation as to why or even acknowledging that he did that; I always figured this was simple evidence that he was just parroting whatever the publication wanted him to say that month, so I lost interest in his opinion as time went by. Certainly there were enough others–Jeff Cooper, Bob Milek, Charles Askins, Ross Seyfried, Elmer Keith, Finn Aagaard, Craig Boddington, and Mas Ayoob among them–that either always did remain consistent, or who would freely discuss what caused them to shift. I appreciated that (even when I wasn’t swayed by their arguments), and I tended to seek out their stuff by choice.
Somehow, then, it doesn’t seem that surprising that Metcalf never really did “get it” when it comes to liberty. (Sadly, he’s hardly alone in this.) At this point, he does seem to be quite happy doubling down on his bridge-burning, and I guess he’ll find out how genuine all his new spiffy friends are.
Besta luck in that one, pal.
July 2nd, 2014
Ah, yes, the self publishing too. It has been really great to read things we may have not gotten to had it stayed the “old way” of publishing. But it has been harder to sort through who’s really an expert/good or not, tho. One almost has to have followed or become real familiar with an author now a days, and many people don’t do that. At least we don’t have to spend more than a buck or two to read and find out that way. On screen reading is the trend. I do really miss real paper books, it’s not the same reading a screen.
July 2nd, 2014
Paul, I’ve been aware of ProtonMail, but not so much the IndieGoGo campaign.
Did you see the latest — that PayPal froze their account with nearly $300k of donations in it — because PayPal thinks you have to have government permission to encrypt email?????
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/paypal-protonmail-freeze/
PayPal restored the account eventually, but they have a history of this sort of thing. Totally nuts!
July 2nd, 2014
> … the Monkees, but who wants to be in their position?
Hey, I was a Monkees fan. I was … 10ish years-old at the time, so musical taste was not a big factor in my life. Can’t be sure, but I think being in their position (at the time) would be an improvement over where I am now. Michael Nesmith seems to have done well for himself. Yeah, so the rock critic says they were inauthentic. But there are, and were, worse jobs to have.
Thank you, Paul. I now have Auntie Grizelda for an ear-worm. ;-)
July 5th, 2014
I’m the wedding ring owner is quite happy to have it back but..I’d probably want to wear in on a chain or something. At least for a while.